Typical long line during “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day,” on August 1, 2012. This photo was taken by AFTAH’s Peter LaBarbera at the Chick-fil-A in Aurora, Illinois. LaBarbera waited in line for three hours and forty-five minutes to get a meal. Click on photo to enlarge.

Editor’s Note: this story is highly fluid and “mainstream” media accounts — with their over-reliance on and bias toward pro-homosexual activists — create the possibility that the thrust of this story regarding Chick-fil-A’s alleged pro-LGBT captitulation is suspect. Proceed with caution.

TAKE ACTION: Kindly encourage Chick-fil-A and its Chief Operating Officer, Dan Cathy, to stand strong and NOT cave in to the radical Homosexual Lobby and liberal politicians by dropping its laudable support for pro-family and pro-real-marriage (one-man, one-woman) groups:

Chick-fil-A phone: 404-765-8000 [you will reach a receptionist, who will then put you on hold to talk with a Chick-fil-A representative; also don’t forget to thank Dan Cathy for his public defense of godly values!]

WASHINGTON, D.C. –I’m starting to wonder if anything good can come out of Chicago these days.

I’ve been in the nation’s capital all week attending a conservative seminar and yesterday the buzz started flying from homosexualist websites and Twitter feeds that Chick-fil-A had caved in and agreed not to give (through its WinShape Foundation) to groups that oppose homosexual “marriage.”

We hope this story is being overly “spun” and exaggerated by homosexual activists, but if it is (basically) true, we want you to encourage this Christian-run company not to harm its brand by allowing itself to be bullied into submission by the LGBT Lobby.

“Chick-fil-A is a family-owned and family-led company serving the communities in which it operates. From the day Truett Cathy started the company, he began applying biblically-based principles to managing his business. For example, we believe that closing on Sundays, operating debt-free and devoting a percentage of our profits back to our communities are what make us a stronger company and Chick-fil-A family.

“The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect — regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender. We will continue this tradition in the over 1,600 Restaurants run by independent Owner/Operators. Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena.

“Our mission is simple: to serve great food, provide genuine hospitality and have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.” [as reported by NPR]

It turns out that this statement is pretty much a re-write of Chick-fil-A’s previously affirmed policy. And, of course, the fast-food chicken restaurant has never denied service to homosexuals or transgenders (or people with other problems for that matter). So this statement is only “news” insofar as a company that always treats its customers fairly now has been browbeaten to put out a formal “sexual orientation nondiscrimination” statement — by a liberal Democratic politician who has a very twisted and un-American notion of what freedom is all about.

Prediction: look for homosexual activists to find ways to agitate within Chick-fil-A using the new “sexual orientation” statement. They never stop fighting; neither can we.

The important issue here is this: has Chick-fil-A agreed (or not) to the Left’s and Alderman Moreno’s outrageous demand NOT to give to organizations like National Organization for Marriage (NOM) that defend authentic marriage (one man, one woman), according to the beliefs of Chick-fil-A’s Christian CEO, Dan Cathy?

Because here’s the crux of this whole debate: in a free society, Dan Cathy and Chick-fil-A and its foundation, WinShape Foundation CAN GIVE TO WHOMEVER THEY WANT.

Let me repeat and rephrase that for Alderman Moreno and all self-righteous liberals who see no problem with wielding government power to dictate charitable giving policies to free entities and people:

Mr. Moreno: there are dozens of corporations that generously fund your favored cause of homosexual “marriage.” And there are many other companies like Chili’s and Maggiano’s Restaurants (owned by Brinker International) that fund extremist “gay” pressure groups like the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. This is their right in a free society. In the same way, it is the right of Chick-fil-A through its WinShape Foundation to support pro-real-marriage organizations or whomever it wants.

As a result of the negotiations, Mr. Moreno received a letter signed by John E. Featherston Jr., a senior director of real estate for Chick-fil-A, stating, “The WinShape Foundations is now taking a much closer look at the organizations it considers helping, and in that process will remain true to its stated philosophy of not supporting organizations with political agendas.”

Mr. Moreno said in an interview Wednesday that he believes the company will stop “using money to fund groups that have antigay causes. They have committed in writing they will not do that.”

We certainly hope Moreno is wrong. Now here is a word to Dan Cathy and Chick-fil-A: if indeed Chick-fil-A has “adjusted” – or is considering adjusting — its giving policies to appease Democratic political thugs like Chicago Alderman Joe Moreno:

Mr. Cathy, we appreciate your energetic public defense of marriage and family as God ordained them. Americans showered your company with support precisely because you did NOT cave in to pro-homosexual political correctness – and because we were outraged at the oppressive actions of big-city politicians against Chick-fil-A. But if due to liberal intimidation, Chick-fil-A now changes its corporate foundation’s fundamental giving practices as the price for doing business in Illinois, then, ironically, you have damaged the cause of liberty rather than advance it.

In fact, it would be better for Chick-fil-A to abandon its restaurant in Ald. Moreno’s Chicago ward – and even pull out of Illinois – if that’s what it takes to preserve YOUR CORPORATION’S FREEDOM to give money to whatever honorable and biblical causes like natural marriage that you decide to support.

Private boycotts of corporations are one thing. AFTAH supports targeted boycotts against companies like Chili’s and General Mills (which came out against a pro-natural-marriage amendment in Minnesota). And certainly many homosexual activists freely exercise their right to boycott Chick-fil-A. But the abuse of government power and zoning policies, etc., to target a Christian-run American company and negate its freedom (and that of its CEO) to advance its moral values and beliefs is another matter altogether.

And P.S. to Ald. Moreno: stop implying that you are championing “civil rights” by essentially trampling over the freedom of Chick-fil-A to support its own biblical values. Skin color and ethnicity are unchangeable; homosexual behavior is not only changeable (as testified by happy former homosexuals), it is sinful according to the heartfelt beliefs of many of your own constituents.

George Orwell is rolling over in his grave at the annoying penchant of modern liberals to advocate crushing liberty in the name of “civil rights” based on homosexuality. Genuine civil rights have nothing to do with destructive sexual and gender (mis)behaviors, and there is no more of a “right” for two people of the same sex to marry as there is a “right” for a guy to marry his sister.

Leftist tyranny

Notice what “gay activist” like the hateful Wayne Besen at the curiously-named “Truth Wins Out” and liberal pundits like Current TV’s Cenk Uygur are aggressively demanding: NO MORE DONATIONS from Chick-fil-A’s WinShape Foundation to any pro-marriage and pro-family groups. They know that pro-homosexual organizations are the beneficiary of untold millions of dollars in gifts from corporations like Starbuck’s (which recently came out FOR “gay marriage” and hence is being boycotted by NOM). Yet they act as if a single company funding the defense of real marriage is some hateful Crime Against Humanity.

All this despite the fact that 32 out of 32 states have passed or enacted statewide amendments preserving marriage as one-man, one-woman. Truth is, defending natural marriage is “extreme” only to pro-“gay” fanatics on the far Left. That’s why hundreds of thousands of Americans came out on “Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day” August 1 like I did and waited patiently for HOURS to buy a chicken sandwich to support this company after Moreno and other liberals started trashing it and its CEO. (See my photo above.)

Liberals love to pretend that they are the sole possessors of Truth as they use the levers of power (government or otherwise) to force their views on others. In the extreme, this is Communism, an ideology that has killed many, many millions of its own citizens worldwide – in the name of “The People.”

New York Times: really?

Americans For Truth volunteers stand in support of the sole Chick-fil-A restaurant in Chicago, to counter a pro-homosexual protest. Click on photo to enlarge.

By the way, see if you can figure out what’s wrong with this odd paragraph in today’s New York Times article on the controversy:

The company’s food became a symbol in the national debate over the issue [homosexual “marriage”] and even seeped into the presidential campaign. In August, hundreds of thousands of people on both sides showed up at the restaurants to either eat or not eat, depending on which side of the issue they fell.

Hundreds of thousands ON BOTH SIDES?! How about hundreds of thousands of pro-Chick-fil-A Americans on the CFA “Appreciation Day” versus a few stragglers at the “gay kiss-ins” a few days later? (In Schaumburg, Illinois, just two homosexual protesters showed up at a popular Chick-fil-A on the “kiss-in” day.)

No wonder nobody but liberals and the dominant, left-biased media takes the New York Times seriously anymore.

Liberals: power and ‘gay’ validation

To understand the Homosexual Movement, think VALIDATION. Self-styled “gay” or “queer” activists oppose anyone (including God) and anything that rightly judges their lifestyle to be wrong.

To understand the Left, think POWER. People like Ald. Moreno tell themselves that they’re advancing “civil rights,” but what they are really doing is advancing Gay Power as a subset of their goal to advance Liberal Power. And he, like so many on the Left, sees no problem with forcing his ideas (his immorality) on everyone. Translation: many on the Left are attempting to “criminalize Christianity” in this nation wherever the Bible conflicts with their pet agendas like homosexual “marriage.”

We cannot let the homosexuality-celebrating Left steal away our freedom with their condescending and misleading euphemisms like “marriage equality.” America became great because America is free, and we must fight to keep it that way. Take action today by voicing your appreciation to Chick-fil-A and its WinShape Foundation – coupled with your kind appeal NOT to cave in to Intolerant political bullies on the Left.